Racetrack jumps the gun

The owner didn't wait for a county permit to build his disputed motorcycle course.

By CHUIN-WEI YAP, Times Staff Writer
Published September 10, 2007

This racetrack was all a go for Robert Wood after he secured permission from the county commission to build it. His big mistake was to build it before the county actually issued the permit, which has landed Wood in court.
	[Special to the Times]

DADE CITY - Three years ago, Kim Noll moved to a home on the secluded pastures of Auton Road, just west of the Withlacoochee River Park, looking for quiet and a place to run his horses.

The last thing he expected was a motorcycle track next door.

But that's what happened in November last year, when the County Commission agreed to let his neighbor, Robert Wood, build an 8-acre motocross facility on a 40-acre sprawl Wood owns there.

It was a close shave for Wood.

There were concerns about noise and dust. Noll brought a petition with 300 signatures opposing the track. People worried about the track's effects on the big environmental park across Wood's property line.

"It doesn't make sense to place something as incompatible as a motocross track next door to the park," Noll said. "This is a passive park and a wildlife refuge."

The Pasco Planning Commission voted 7-3 to throw out Wood's application. But the County Commission reversed that decision, adding conditions that Wood can hold only 12 events a year, and operate Friday through Sunday from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m.

They also said county planners must still approve Wood's construction plan and development permit.

Here's where Wood made a mistake.

The county's Development Review Committee, made up of top staff planners, is due to consider Wood's site plan Thursday.

Trouble is, Wood couldn't wait.

He's already built most of his track and held racing at the site.

Now he may get nothing.

* * *

Trouble began barely a week after Wood got his green light from the County Commission.

On Nov. 13, five days after the commission approval, county staff found about 60 piles of dirt on Wood's property that suggested development was already going on.

On March 14, Pasco's code enforcement chief, Richard Ortiz, wrote a note to his counterpart in the zoning office, Debra Zampetti. "The track is 90 percent complete," Ortiz told Zampetti.

Five days later, Wood got a citation from the county. "Development without permit," it said.

Wood, a 49-year-old Zephyrhills contractor, said he just wants to indulge his family's hobby, which is shared by his five sons and two grandsons.

"I paid $600,000 for that land," he said. "And I got approved by the BCC. Do you think I would jeopardize all that?"

But, apparently, he would.

"Yes, I screwed up," Wood said. "I got a track built before I got a permit. But the judge hasn't decided yet. Once I pay that fine, I don't owe anybody any explanation."

The case went to court last week. Wood could be fined $500. But the county has asked to postpone the final hearing until Sept. 28, because county planners will take up Wood's case on Sept. 13.

"The outcome of that DRC hearing may bear on the county's position with respect to the current citation," Senior Assistant County Attorney Kristi Wooden told the court.

In other words, the county staff may kill Wood's race track even before the judge has to do anything.

* * *

Wood said his race track is about as intrusive as a strawberry farm.

"We live across the street from landfills," he said. "It's not like it's a Beverly Hills neighborhood."

Kim Noll doesn't need a Beverly Hills neighborhood. He just wants some peace for his wife, Tina, and their 11 horses. Both Nolls are 52.

"We moved out here because of the seclusion," he said. "The racetrack is not conducive to riding."

It's open pasture between Noll's property and Wood's motocross. Wood said he plans to plant trees as a buffer and fence the property line. He said he's sick of Noll taking pictures of his family's racetrack activities and Noll's complaints.

"If there was a Girl Scout, and if I were to take pictures, I'd get arrested," Wood said.

Not that trees are likely to work as a buffer.

"Studies have shown that vegetative buffers are ineffective in reducing off-site noise levels to adjacent properties," county biologist Bob Tietz wrote in a Nov. 6 memo to Zampetti about the racetrack.

Tietz said Wood's property isn't in a critical environmental corridor. But "development creates noise, fugitive dust, night illumination and intensive use will have both initial and long-term impacts to the indigenous wildlife in the area," he wrote.

Bipin Parikh, the county's development services chief, didn't reply to messages left over three days.

Wood said he tried to talk to Noll to see how he could make things better, but Noll wouldn't have it. Noll said he told Wood that he intended to fight the track.

On Thursday, the Development Review Committee will hear the case.

Wood is still hopeful. Things will be better once he gets his permit, he said.

"We're real strict about our rules," he said.

Chuin-Wei Yap can be reached at (813)909-4613 or cyap@sptimes.com.

[Last modified September 9, 2007, 20:08:36]